Nearly 20 years ago, Kevin Burkhardt was in New Jersey selling Chevys, trying to make ends meet with his sportscasting career in neutral.
He eventually got a break with WCBS and WFAN Radio before ending up as the Mets’ sideline reporter for SNY. This led to Fox Sports, where he has been the host of the World Series and its No. 2 NFL play-by-player.
Now, Burkhardt will be named the No. 1 voice on Fox’s NFL games, The Post has learned. Burkhardt and Fox are finalizing a new long-term contract, according to sources, that will make him the voice of the network’s Super Bowls.
This means Burkhardt will be on the call for two of the next three Super Bowls, including Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
Fox Sports declined comment.
Burkhardt is replacing Joe Buck. After nearly three decades, which included 24 World Series and six Super Bowls, Buck left Fox to join Troy Aikman on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” While Fox wanted to keep Buck – it offered him a new $12 million a year deal – the network felt confident that Burkhardt could be its answer. Now, he will be.
Whom Burkhardt will team with on the No. 1 NFL team remains to be seen. A leading candidate is Greg Olsen. In a well-received rookie year, Olsen partnered with Burkhardt on Fox’s No. 2 team behind Buck and Aikman.
While Olsen is a top candidate, he is not guaranteed the spot, as Fox has been determined to look at all candidates. It made overtures to Tom Brady, according to sources, prior to Brady returning to football.
Burkhardt, 48, graduated from William Paterson in 1997 with the hopes of being a sportscaster. Burkhardt spent four years calling minor league baseball and eight years working at 1,000-watt WGHT (1500 AM) in New Jersey.
Around 2004-05, he received his first big break doing updates as a part-timer on WCBS-Radio. At that time, he needed to make more money and picked up the side gig selling cars. His boss in Pine Belt, New Jersey’s Chevy dealership, Mike Trebino, allowed him to have flexible hours to continue on WCBS.
“He let me work in the car dealership to pay the mortgage,” Burkhardt told The Post in 2007.
After seven months of selling cars, WFAN’s program director at the time, Eric Spitz, made it so Burkhardt was hired full-time by the station. This led to the Mets’ sideline gig in 2007, where Burkhardt was almost universally beloved.
In 2013, Fox Sports hired him, which eventually led to hosting the World Series. And now, Burkhardt will be watched by around 100 million viewers on Super Bowl Sunday.
With Buck gone, Fox will also need a World Series play-by-play replacement. Joe Davis is the leading candidate to team with analyst John Smoltz in October.
